Recipe to Reality: Banana Pudding Poke Cake

Banana Pudding Poke Cake!

    
   Some of you may be reading this title saying, "Poke cake?! What the heck is a poke cake?!" If this sounds familiar, don't worry, I thought the same thing. I found this recipe at The Country Cook's website. It's a great recipe for beginning bakers because it's Semi-Homemade, as Sandra Lee from the Food Network would say!

All set!

  The great thing about this cake is that the techniques are very simple, it tastes delicious (when does cake from a box not taste delicious?) and can have lots of different combinations. I decided to use "Rainbow Chip" cake mix, mostly because I already had a box of it in my pantry, but you can use your favorite cake mix for this recipe. After much deliberation, I decided to use Banana Cream pudding after getting advice from Twitter user @ThurmanPoat and my husband (whose opinion counts for a lot around here ^_^).


   I used a 9 x 13 pan courtesy of my aunt, Pattycake, because the kitchen in my apartment is too small for all my newlywed gifts :( . I followed the directions for the cake mix using the traditional water, eggs, and oil and let it bake for 28 minutes when the top was golden brown. Let the cake cool for just a few minutes before you begin poking holes into it.

This is where it gets its name from!

    Yes, POKE! Where do you think it got its name from? ;) I used the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes all the way through the cake to the bottom of the pan. The only trouble I had with this was that some of the cake got stuck to the handle and then came out when I removed it so there were little crumbles of cake on top. It didn't change the way it tasted, but didn't make for a very pretty picture.

   While the cake is cooling, make the pudding according to the directions. Make sure you are using the instant pudding. I added milk to the pudding and whisked it for about 2 minutes, then let it sit for 2 minutes to solidify a bit. You don't want the pudding to completely solidify because you want to pour it over your cake, but you don't want it to be completely liquidy either.

Full of Holes!

   Next, pour the pudding over the cake and use a spatula or spoon to make sure the pudding gets into all of those holes that you poked! Put that into the refrigerator to set up for a few hours.

Pourable Pudding!

Using my Pink Spatula ;)

   Once the pudding is set, add a layer of Cool Whip. I used the Light Cool Whip, but you can use any kind.

Looking good!

   Finally, add some crushed Nilla Wafers to the top right before you serve it to add some texture to the cake. If you add them too early, they will absorb the moisture from the Cool Whip and will get soggy. 

Ready to Serve!

   My new mother-in-law had a party this weekend to welcome my husband and I home from our honeymoon and I decided to make this cake for it. All of my husband's family loved the cake! It was moist, the pudding was delicious, and the whole thing came together perfectly. I couldn't take too much credit, considering it is semi-homemade, but I didn't mind getting compliments, either!

Deeeeeelicious!